We don’t need to preach to you the value and importance of having your business on social media, by now you’ve probably heard it all (we hope). So now that you’ve got social media setup for your business, how do you find and create unique and compelling content? Yes, you can always hire a content marketing expert, but that’s not always in the budget for a small business owner.

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer or just looking to pinch pennies, here’s our favourite free marketing tools.

STOCK IMAGES

Pexels: this is definitely one of our favourites and one of our most-used websites for high-quality stock images. All photos on Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose, personal or commercial.

Unsplash: all of the photos on this site are also under Creative Commons Zero licensing, so you’re free to use the photos as you choose. Both Pexels and Unsplash have beautiful stock imagery with almost any theme you could imagine.

BRANDED & CUSTOM IMAGES

Font Candy: this is a free app that allows you to put beautiful typography and effects over your photos. Great app for creating a branded image or unique piece that you can share on social media.

Canva: we hate to admit it, but this app/website is the best chance at putting designers out of work, it’s that good! Canva allows you to create designs (social media images, invitations, presentations, etc.) for free, and they look amazing.

GIFS

Giphy: the unparalleled source for high-quality, free gifs is Giphy. You can search thousands of gifs, or even create your own. Usable as a website or an app for your smartphone.

INSTAGRAM

Layout: this app for Instagram allows you to create collages of your photos so you can fit more in one space.

Vidstitch: another free app that allows you to stitch together videos and photos in one collage. A very unique way to display things on Instagram.

Repost: this app for Instagram lets you easily repost a photo, with automatic credit given to the original creator.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT & CONTENT

Hootsuite: we have been long-time users of Hootsuite, and love it! Manage and schedule posts for multiple social media accounts from one screen/app. Works with Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Google Alerts: you should definitely have Google Alerts setup for your business name, and any trends or topics you want to be kept in the loop about. You can set these up as you wish, and manage the settings for each alert. Google scours the Internet, and sends content related to your alerts, right to your inbox, which will save you hours searching online for content.

There’s so many other amazing free marketing tools out there, but these are our favourite ones to recommend to clients and friends. If you’re not the DIY type, by all means contact us to discuss how we can help you with your marketing.